Rutgers Equine Science Center Industry Needs Assessment Survey 2016

The Rutgers Equine Science Center is a designated Center of Excellence at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The center's mission is to promote, “Better horse care through research and education.” As part of the land-grant university system, the center is obligated to provide outreach programs to serve the equine-related community. To do so, it is best to understand the needs of those constituents. The center maintains a database of equine professionals and enthusiasts for distribution of educational and promotional material. In January 2016, a survey was conducted via email to determine the most pressing needs of the equine-related community. The survey revealed a diverse industry with 46% of respondents classifying themselves as recreational riders. Most participants (78%) were interested in horse health and nutrition (57%) information. Owners relied predominantly on veterinarians (89%), printed materials (83%), and horse-related websites (78%) for care and business information. Responders also ranked highly the five programmatic focus areas of the center, including horse health, land use, integrity of equestrian sport, environmental stewardship, and development of future leaders. The center collected comments about how it can be even more useful to the equine-related community, which will help in planning future events, research, and programming.